Ten Days of Solitude

Tomorrow I'm heading for Cill Rialaig. It's a retreat for visual artists but, for a change, it's going to be taken over by a group of writers. A few minutes ago a friend asked me where was the next stop after Cill Rialaig and I said America. I almost wasn't joking. This beautiful wild place is located at the end of the Ballinskelligs Peninsula in Kerry and from the front door of my cottage I will be looking down into the broad majestic Atlantic.

Those who want to know more about Cill Rialaig can click of this link http://cillrialaigartscentre.org/

I've spent time in Cill Rialaig before - and those who want to know how I spent my time can click on this link http://coastposts.wordpress.com/2012/09/20/the-clamour-of-the-lamb/

Those who want the shortened version - I spent most of my time feeding an orphaned  baby lamb who woke me every morning for his breakfast at 6 am. Sadly, I suspect Blue Boy has graced a few Sunday dinner tables since our time together and, on this occasion, any orphaned lambs had better run when they see me coming - or they will share the same fate.

Anyway, my bags are packed, my computer too - and I aim to work hard on my new book. I suspect there will be few diversions - but one thing I won't have is an on-line facility - and, you know what? - I'm actually looking forward to being off-line. It'll be cold turkey stuff - but I'll cope without email, Facebook, Wordpress, Blogger, Twitter etc ... I think.....

Here's to ten days of solitude!

Just One of Those Time-wasting Days

I've spent a sizable portion of what should have been a busy and productive day messing around - it's the kind of day when you say to yourself, "Get a grip, girl, and stop wasting time," but you don't - because what you're doing is fun - and if you can't have fun you might as well fall to your knees right now and tell the politicians to go ahead and hand you that very tight-fitting hair shirt.

So, what was I doing? Well, I was trying my hand at making a commercial - a 30 second video about my book Deceptions, which is written under my pen name, Laura Elliot. The service offered by a company called Animoto - and the 30 seconds are free - so I put in my photos, text, music and away I went - except that I kept changing it. 

That's the worst thing about decisions - hand me a Chinese menu and I'm lost in the labyrinth of choice. And so it was today - which song, how much text, which theme, delete when it's over thirty seconds...darn it, now it's twenty-right seconds - a thousand piece jigsaw would have been finished in half the time. Anyway, this is my attempt - of course I want to remake, rejig, reconfigure, reconstruct - and all the Re-s you can imagine but I'm gritting my teeth and posting  - and I have to admit I did enjoy the my messing around day.

mehttp://animoto.com/play/APPjf3UWr3AANlWEQzX1AA

Deceptions. A new Laura Elliot Novel

animoto.com

A page-turner with a surprising twist